Letter From the Editor - July/August 2024

Welcome to our July/August issue of OFFICER Magazine and the end of summer. The traditional summer vacation window when kids don’t have school and families take vacations is ending as schools go back in session, most at the end of August or very early in September. Labor Day ahead of us. And then… the fall season: Veterans’ Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. It is called “The Silly Season” for a reason. I hope that your agency is planning ahead, ensuring staffing, making your equipment lists and checking them twice.

Here at OFFICER, we try to support you with news, information, podcasts, virtual training and more. I feel it’s important to communicate to our readership—all of you out there who work behind a badge or support those who do—that we evolve just as the job does. As conditions change, challenges crop up, laws get updated, etc. we try to make sure we adapt. We do our best to make sure we provide you with multiple means of access to the information we provide. We try to make sure that information comes from multiple reliable sources, and the editorial we offer comes from recognized experts in the law enforcement field. Our Editorial Advisory Board includes long-respected members from the law enforcement community, as well as representatives from the industry that supports us.

To give you an idea of some of the resources and information tools we have available, I wanted to review a few of them.

When it comes to training, our OFFICER Virtual Academy provides contemporary “hot topic” training, with in-service credit available in Maryland (other states pending). Currently, we have 29 courses available, with more coming soon. Once you’ve taken the course, you can download a certificate to prove completion (if you’re in Maryland, it includes the in-service certification number, score and number of hours).

Our website is updated daily with news, insights and video from the field and more. Each weekday, we have an electronic newsletter that goes out to our readership with easy links back to the day’s news. We also produce electronic “blasts” that include information on the latest technology, innovative equipment and safety/personal protection pieces to support officer survival.

Each week, we produce a news wrap-up podcast called “The Lineup,” which is published on Friday mornings. We have a number of other podcasts produced on a varying schedule, each providing information and insight into different segments of the law enforcement profession.

I hope that we are serving your information needs and supporting you in your career path/growth in every way we can. If there’s something you think we should be doing, please email the suggestions to [email protected]. Stay safe.